Midsummer night...

I'm missing gardens and dewy grass, and the seeming solitude of nature.

Wishing I were surrounded by fireflies and whispering birches, rather than the hum of florescent lights.

I would even brave the mosquitos and black flies, if I could climb up the oak into our tree house and watch the waning moon.

The "Thud, thud, thud" of the annoying rap star base from the apartment below, and the sticky night peppered from orange industrial lights fill my sheets.

I can't sleep.

Give me a hammock! Give me a winding stream...and peepers singing in the blackness.

I'll curl up in my bower, feel the long grasses tickle my back.

Squint your eyes and you may see Oberon and his band of menehune walk past.

BUT NO! I am stuck on the third floor of a concrete block. No breeze...no stream...no midsummer mischief for me...


Goodnight Puck.

TAKE THAT!

I totally aced my midterm for Medieval Literature. (only missed one question!)

I hope I can annihilate the PRAXIS exam tomorrow morning with equal results.

Book Blog for Lizzy

WHAT YOU NEED:
Regular printer paper ( or if you're being brave, watercolor paper, or any other type that makes your fingertips sing!)
Floss (unused is best...blechh!)
Needle
I have a "Bone Folder" in my picture, but not to worry--you don't REALLY need it. You can use your thumbnail to make a nice crisp crease.
Happy paper for the cover. This could be thick, cardstock quality, or floppy leather, or, the morning's newspaper. It's up to you!


Folding is pretty simple, just make sure that everything is lined up, for everything to work best.


This part of the folded paper is called the "Mountain"---ohh those creative book binders!


And this is called the "Valley"


Folded piece of paper= Folio
Folded pieces of paper tucked inside eachother= signatures

Usually 6 folios make up 1 signature. OK! Enough with the numbers--time for FUN!



***This is the tricky part***
THREADING THE NEEDLE

Actually--threading needles isn't the tricky part---it's the snazzy bookbinding thing we do next!
DUM DUM DUUUUUH!!!



You'll want to take the smaller section of floss (the part you just put through the needles eye), ON TO the needle.
This helps you not have to hold all the pieces of string together when you're sewing.
It does take some practice....but it's really nice when it's done!






*** Tricky part over!***

PUTTING IT TOGETHER



Pamphlet Stitch book with 5 holes

Here's a link for AMAZING clear instructions for three holes--might be a better plan!
http://www.booklyn.org/education/ispamphlet.pdf



You just poke the holes with your needle, no need to do ahead of time.

Just make sure you go from the inside (VALLEY!) to the top ( Mountain)--and DON'T prick yourself. OUCH!

Don't sew yet, just make the holes.



Measure out the paper that you want. make sure there's enough to be the front and back cover ( and if you'd like, leave a lot extra so you can sorta wrap it around the front!)



OK! Now we're ready to sew!

http://www.booklyn.org/education/ispamphlet.pdf
--all my pictures look complicated--use this instead!

Through the middle hole from the top this time! MOUNTAIN to the VALLEY.



Don't pull it all the way through--leave enough to tie at the end of the sewing--


and then trim!



YOU'VE MADE A BOOK!


PART II tomorrow....

Student Teaching Placement

SOUTH SALT LAKE!

.....i'mma have to get me a sweater vest now.

All I want to do...

is play this

Here...for the rest of the summer.


But I've got 50 long, grueling, torturous days ahead....

and oh, so many miles to go before i'll ever be able to sleep again.



Say "Hello" to the harbor for me Grammy!

Be--longings

I want to:

*be smarter

*be a voracious reader

*be a film maker

*be an interior designer

*be in the cirque de soleil

*be an art therapist, children's hospital

*be a marine biologist

*be an installation artist in London

*be a presidential speech writer

*be a weaver

*be poet laureate

*be an african drummer

*be social activist

*be a world traveler



*be happy in my skin

*****************

tea time---goodnight

I love you Mom!

Start It All Over Again

I'm the sea that surrounds you
the garden that grounds you



The sun and the wind and the rain

I am every season

Your every reason to start it all over again

Soon you sail the wide river
we'll set sail together, and oceans will call out your name

and by stars you will follow
your hopes for tommorrow--

and start it all over again

If you stager or stumble,
if dreams start to crumble
i'll pick up the pieces of pain



I will cradle you cry with you

pray that you'll try to just start it all over again

Who has eyes that can see
all the things you could be?

who has ears for the sweetest refrain?



May your heart sing forever,
where the sea meets the river

and start it all over again.

---Battlefield Band

faces

Machine drawer catharsis

I forget who coined the phrase in our family...but someone somewhere created the impulse to become distracted by the little things like, a sewing machine drawer, and sort out the bobbins, and wind up the thread, and place the spare needles in a categorized descending line ( by size, and function--dontchaknow?)

This has filtered down to my brain--and I find myself having to organize the tupperware, or my post-it notes--or especially, the silverware. Sure, I know---it sounds like OCD---but really, you have no idea how good it feels to have those little things done!

Because, you see, that "machine drawer" that NO ONE WILL EVER SEE is organized, and together--and although the rest of the house is a mess, your hair hasn't been washed, and neither have your socks, but the tea bags are sorted--It feels SO GOOD! Hmm...says Freud...an outward manifestation of organizing a cluttered mind?

I'm crazy. I know. Minutiae

What I'm realizing however, is that when I tackle these stupid little things, I'm finally able conquer the big things.

In other news: My creative streak has wandered off. It might be wedged between some newly shuffled CD jewel cases, or lined up next to the cumin in the spice cabinet. Where did I put it?


It's gotta be in a drawer around here somewhere. Hold on one second, really! It's right...oohhhh...sharpies--I wonder if any of these work. I really ought to go through these...

My life is in need of a deep spring cleaning!

R.I.P Chickens

Today Mom found all the chickens ripped to shreds; dead.

Happy Earth day. :p

Four Generations

and my brother...

I love my grammy!

Wow, I was little...and BLONDE!!!

Also look what Dad found amongst some great slides!!!

EARTH HOUR 2008

On Saturday, March 29 at 8pm millions of people around the world will turn off their lights for one hour - Earth Hour - symbolizing the need to take action on climate change.

and who can resist anything narrated by Jeremy Piven---he's dreamy!

You should be..like..a doctor!

SOUNDTRACK OF MY LIFE

"It hurts when I pee!"

UTI.

"My legs hurt...right here" *points to shins*

Shin Splints.

"My pee is really dark, and I start to pass out when I eat candybars!"

Seriously? Go get checked out for Diabetes/ Hypoglycemia.

"I'm really dizzy, and I can't walk straight--I went swimming yesterday."

Go to the clinic, check out your inner ear.

"I think I sprained my ankle! What do I do!?"

Ice, Elevation, take two asprin and get thee to a clinic!

" *burn* OW! Wait! I can't remember...Do you put hot water or cold water on a burn?"

Oh, well first we have to find your brain....

" Hey Kage!--what's that muscle right here?"

That's your Latissimus dorsi.

" What's the prefix for anything to do with lungs?"

Pulmo...like "pulmonary"

EDUCATIONAL PSYCH CLASS-

" Can anyone tell me where the Thalmus is located? The Hippocampus? The Occipital Lobe?"

*I raise my hand*

"Anyone other than Kjirsten?"

*********

FHE BROTHER: Yo! Kj--help a brutha out...I'm trying to pass my EMT course--I gotta pretend like i've been called to your house...What are your symptoms?

ME: Um...you have to assess if the scene is safe first dude.

BRO: Oh yeah! Is the scene safe?

ME: Yes. Um...my symptoms are I'm feverish, i'm out of it confused, I'm lying on the floor, i'm breathing fast, and my breath smells fruity, my hands feel numb.

BRO: Do you have any allergies?

ME: No.

BRO: Good 'cause I can't give you an epi-pen! Do you have any broken bones?

ME: NO!-i'm in and out of consciousness.

BRO: Uh, do you have a pulse.

ME: YES-i'm alive! How bout you ask me if I have diabetes!

BRO: Right, um...are you wearing the bracelet?

ME: Nope....but so what!?

BRO: Have you eaten today?

ME: A long time ago.

BRO: Ok...I'm gonna get you some food.

ME: Yeah, I'm unconscious now.

************
SO--over the last couple years I've become the go-to gal when it comes to anything remotely medical. Ingrown toenail, strange rashes, dizziness, asthma attacks, flu symptoms, stomach issues, menstration, allergies, sore muscles, fingernail sensitivity ( ok..that last one hasn't happend yet..)

But It has now started to leak out onto facebook--

"Hey!! Are you up late tonight?? Can I come pick your brain about some medical things? ...I'll be home around 11:30-ish, and wanted to stop by. If there is a better time tomorrow, let me know!! Thanks KJ--You're the best!!"

Any encounter usually ends up with "So what's your major again?"

"Art" I say, matter-o-factly.

"Wow...you should be a doctor!"

----Yeah i'm so not an expert here.

I am facinated with the human body, and all that it can do--how it handles infection, stretched muscles, the daily bumps and bruises that we give it.

Again--the relief I "perscribe" is pretty much common knowledge and hey, I haven't killed anyone yet.

But what these silly encounters really do is make me wonder--If I hadn't been so freaked by needles and math, would I have gone into medicine?

Haiti Feedback-

This is what the client wrote back when I sent her my PDF file.

"I love the nests! I really do! I’m not sure I’ll be able to get my board of directors to buy it, but personally I say, “Great job!” I smile every time I think of your nest logo. It’s a strong, immediate communication, and very appealing, clear and bold. It has a very original feel; I’ve never seen anything like it. Please continue refining it. Be very sensitive about the type font choice and the spacing between every letter, as well as between the words and lines. Be careful about mixing sizes of letters. Try experimenting more with the quality of the lines making the nest."

---Still working on ideas for the whole packet--
DVD folder concept


CD case maze heart logo

There are some issues concerning cost for this grassroots program--and we're trying to approach it as minimally as possible.

We'll see.

SPRINGVILLE OR BUST!

HOORAY for art trips.

Tomorrow at five-freaking-thirty in the blessed morning we ( the crazed artsy students) will board a twelve-passenger-van and head down to the promised land.

The Springville Art Museum is pretty much amazing



I'm wonderfully excited to see the High School art exhibit and reminisce about having my work shown in a museum as a HS student! (oooh...ahhhh!) It's funny to look at the work that was selected now, because I really don't like it-(self portrait)--and there are a million things i'd change about it now, but at the time I thought it was kind of cool--and didn't realize how cool it was until I saw it hanging there, on the wall. I should really find a picture of the darn thing.

ANYWAY--that'll be around 10ish...and then we're off to the BYU museum, so I can sob and sigh infront of the HUGE nativity painting by Kershisnik. (if it's still up) and marvel at Minerva's work.

and then....who knows! Salt Lake? We're up for adventure and more artsy sights and then back that night to snowy cold stupid Idaho---to have a Zen experience with a wood stove in the early early morning--we're talking three-aaaaa.mmmm...

SO--*ahem Andi!* if you happen to be stuck in a house with children who have exhausted their games for the morning--head over to the museum, and I'll run around with them!

I HATE RICHARD ESTES!

Trying to get through this beast of a week---I have to give a presentation on my least favorite artist tomorrow at *gasp* 8 AM!

EW....EWWWWWWW! I really don't like his work.

I'm inundated with haitian orphans, and call me evil but i'm hating every moment of it--I'm doing their logo---and sales packet, ( actually I don't hate them, so much as the people who try to exploit them...) and finishing up my bendigo pottery project ( that isn't amounting to anything to write home about--really, because they all keep cracking!) and having to read two books for Educational psych--which is good, but lots of work....

And then finishing up my illustrated manuscript project, and then I'm off chopping wood for the woodfire kiln Friday morning at *GASP* 8 AM!!!!!!

AND THENNNNN...Saturday I'll be able to breathe, and think, and dive in again.....for NEXT Saturday when I have the GASPPPPPPPPP* 3 am shift at the woodkiln---stoke stoke, poke poke....

I'm counting the days until the Springville art museum trip.....March 14th!

It's only 25 days until my birthday! HOLY CRAPOLY! I'm old! WOOHOO!

I'm TIRED! Whoo...whoo....

Gotta go write a paper.

From Aunt Marillyn...

COLD FRONT

I sit alone by windows gazing out
To see the snow that covers over all.
Will spring be coming soon I want to shout
And bring pink blossoms to the highest wall?

The black-browed chickadees’ so lightly hop.
The towhees’ call; the sparrows smoothly sweep
To always eat sunflower seeds on top.
Birds hate the snowy days, oh I could weep,

A February wind blows deepest chill.
The cloud-filled skies soon bring the sleeting rain.
It slows the mind inside; destroys the will.
When warmth returns does grieving still remain?

Will youth revive with brilliant sunshine’s ray
And raging storms of age be held at bay?


Marillyn B. Johnson

February 2008
Winter of the blue snow

Saturday Self Portrait